Lawsuit: Microsoft tracking cell phone users against their wishes

By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 10:15 am, Thursday, September 1, 2011

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gives his keynote speech Jan. 5 at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gives his keynote speech Jan. 5 at the...

OMG Cakery also made 60 small shortbread cakes for Microsoft executives.

Photo: OMG Cakery

OMG Cakery also made 60 small shortbread cakes for Microsoft...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introduces the new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system on Oct. 11, 2010, in New York, New York. The platform, which will be available in the U.S. on AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks, looks to compete with the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smart phones.

Microsoft has been tracking Windows Phone 7 users movements despite promises that customers can opt out of the location-reporting program, according to a lawsuit recently filed in federal court.

In a potential class action filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court at Seattle, attorneys for a Michigan woman claimed she and countless other Windows Phone 7 users have been reporting their movements to Microsoft even after attempting to opt out of the location- tracking program.

While users of the camera application on Windows Phone devices are asked whether they want Microsoft to access their geolocation data, the attorneys contend clicking “cancel” does not prevent Microsoft from gathering that data.

Asserting that the Redmond corporation has violated the privacy of its customers, attorneys for the plaintiff do not assert Microsoft has done anything with the information yet. But, according to the lawsuit, Microsoft is collecting the information in an effort to build a targeted-marketing system.

“Before Microsoft is able to effectuate such a marketing campaign, however, it must first compile a digital map by collecting geographic information and unique identifiers from cellular towers, wireless network routers, cellular telephones, and computer systems,” wrote attorney Kim Stephens, one of five attorneys for the plaintiff.

“Faced with the expensive and laborious task of collecting this information, Microsoft has elected to gather instead the necessary geolocation information through its customers’ mobile devices. In this way, Microsoft uses its customers as a virtual army of surveyors who constantly gather and transmit the geolocation information necessary to build its digital map.”

The attorneys go on to claim Microsoft lied to Congress earlier in the year during a hearing on mobile privacy.

According to prepared remarks from the May 9 hearing, Microsoft's mobile president Andy Lees asserted that Microsoft collects “limited information” to provide users with “rich experiences."

“Collection is always with the express consent of the user and the goal of our collection is never to track where a specific device has been or is going,” Lees told the congressional committee. “Rather, our goal when providing users – or, more specifically, the location-based applications they select – with this service is to find landmarks that help us determine the approximate location of the device more quickly and accurately.

“Microsoft recognizes that consumers should have control over the location information they share and that the information collected should be narrowly designed to support specific experiences on Windows Phone 7 devices.”

Microsoft has not yet responded with the court. Once the company does, a federal judge will be asked to decide whether to approve the class action, which would allow other Windows Phone users to join the lawsuit.

The Redmond-based company did not immediately reply to a seattlepi.com request for comment.